Thanks for your reasoned and reasonable comments. Do not fear, I am not one of those who feels as though they know everything. There are certain areas in which I am fairly confident that I understand the will of God–i.e., that He intended marriage to be between one man and one woman–and there are othe areas in which I am still seeking to know more about His will.

As Dean mentioned, I also think it’s important to keep one’s ears open and read broadly, even reading those with whom one disagrees. I probably don’t share a lot of the same opinions / convictions / beliefs that you hold (I’m pretty confident of that). I probably don’t share a lot of the same with Averyfineline either (although I suspect I’m closer to his perspective). So, like Dean, I read what you have to say because you write about a subject that interests me. It’s always good to hear what others have to say. Probably 90% of the things you blog about have nothing to do with any issues we might disagree on anyway.

Indeed, none of this brouhaha over at Avery’s blog would have developed if there were not a bunch of people who already know they’re not inclined to agree with Avery who read his blog anyway. So I’d say it’s good that they’re reading him and it’s good that Dean and I are reading you.

The danger that I fear is when one becomes certain that one has somehow acquired a monopoly on truth. And, for some reason or another (well, actually, one could pretty accurately explain it sociologically) conservatives (especially fundamentalists, but not limited to them) tend to be the ones who acquire this total confidence that they know God’s will about everything and their interpretation of the Christian faith is the ONLY valid one. (To be sure, there are plenty of conservative Christians who manage to avoid that pitfall, but the tendency is undeniably there and undeniably vigorous.)

The theological or political beliefs I hold may not be the same as yours. I think I’m right–if I didn’t, I would change my views. But the danger would come if I were to change my statement from “I think I’m right” to “I am right and you are definitively wrong.” It’s just too easy to refer to fellow Christians as being “politically correct” but “biblically incorrect” instead of actually mulling over the fact that there are an awful lot of Christians who have a different point of view that ALSO happens to arise out of their Christian faith.

Tom

Thanks for stopping by. As I said in the post, let me assure you that it is fully my intention to stick to Southern Gospel topics here.

And I know many Democratic Christians, some of whom are very good friends of mine.

The following paragraph is not just to you but to everyone that reads this.

Sometimes I think that we need to look at whose fault the moral decline in our nation is. Is it really the left?? Or is it those who haven’t stood up for what was right, not voting, not speaking out? i.e. Prayer in public schools (Granted their probably were some speaking out[ I wasn't even alive yet, so I don't know], but were their enough speaking out to cause a difference?)

It is a sad thing that our world is coming to.